The computing power of hand held computer terminals can be used for a variety of purposes. Indicia reading terminals, for example, have been used for a number of years in industrial data collection applications and for purposes of decoding information encoded in bar code symbols. Many hand held computer terminals, such as indicia reading terminals, are multifunctional and/or have broad computing capabilities. To assist a user in utilizing and controlling the various functions, many hand held computer terminals have a user interface that comprises a display, such as but not limited to a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) or an organic light emitting diode (“OLED”). The display is assembled with a housing to enclose electronic components that facilitate the computing capability of the hand held computer terminal.
The electronic components can be damaged by external pollutants, such as water, dirt, dust, or other debris. When water ingresses the housing, the water is likely to cause electrical shorts, corrosion, or other damage. Electrical shorts can cause temporary or permanent malfunctions. Corrosion and other physical damage can also cause permanent malfunctions. Likewise, while sometimes less intrusive, dirt, dust, or other debris can be problematic, causing severe damage or a nuisance, such as an obscurity of the display.
The assembly of the display with the housing creates a joint where pollutants can potentially ingress. Some indicia reading terminals, for example, have a clamshell-styled housing, wherein the joint is sealed through compression of the display between two separate pieces of the housing. These two pieces of the housing are a front piece and a back piece. The display is arranged between the front piece and the back piece of the housing, and then compressed between the front piece and the back piece by tightening, e.g. by screwing, the front piece to the back piece.
Unfortunately, in hand held computer terminals with housings that do not have a clamshell style, such as with housings having a closed, periphery tube structure, the displays do not have a front piece of the housing separate and connectable to a back piece of the housing. The display can not be compressed between a front piece and a back piece, therefore, and the display can exhibit inferior sealing performance.
It would be useful to have a hand held computer terminal, such as an indicia reading terminal, without a front piece of the housing separate and connectable to a back piece of the housing, while still providing an equally strong seal or a seal superior to non-clamshell designs, at the joint between the display and the housing, thereby reducing the ingress of potentially damaging pollutants such as water, dirt, dust, or other debris.